Whoop-Up Days SuperDogs show a real bark

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on August 29, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Show dog Cruise jumps over the poles.

Trained dogs doing tricks and timed races were out in full force during the SuperDogs show at Whoop-up Days all week long.

“The focus is for the kids to have a lot of fun watching the dogs play, and run and do all their fun, exciting sports that they do,” said Christina Chapelsky, a SuperDogs trainer.

The trainers get plenty of joy out of the shows.

“The dogs have so much fun,” said Chapelsky.

“Their tails are always wagging. They love to be out there and showing off what they can do for all the people, and the joy is also watching the audience get involved and really love watching what the dogs are doing. And pat and chat, there’s a lot of dogs that really love the end of the show when people from the audience comes down, gets to pet them and have some love and then they get their treats as well.”

The organization looks for dogs that can do multiple skills such as different tricks, agility and comedic performances.

“Well, we have them,” she said.

“Either bring them in as puppies or we will find rescues, even older dogs, and then we kind of gear what they like to do. So we kind of test out what is their strong points and then we gear off of that and make them excel at that specific thing.”

SuperDogs will add new skills to add to the entertainment value.

“Yeah, sometimes we add new skills or we get dogs that have something quirky that we try and work into our scheduling in the performance,” she said.

“So it’s always changing in different ways, different costumes, different dogs. Cast is always mixed up, so that it’s never the same group going everywhere together.”

The SuperDogs tour runs from July to September.